On Toast...

I've written before about my love of things on toast. Since opening Cook House I have been working on my repertoire. It has become a staple menu item, changing topping week to week, depending on what's in season, what I've spotted in books, magazines, or on my travels. I came home from Mallorca with a couple of Sobrasada in my suitcase last week. I'm not entirely sure that's allowed, so don't tell, but that made up last week's toast; the spicy chorizo type paste that is specific to the Balearics spread on hot toast, topped with creamy homemade ricotta, good olive oil and some dressed pea shoots.

We're talking about an open sandwich in basic terms, I find it a lot more interesting than thinking of sandwich fillings however, and find inspiration from around the world. Everyone has their own variation whether it's called a taco, a pizza or pintxo...

These are ideas more than recipes... You're looking for balance; think sweet, salty, bitter and sour and see where you end up... 

Smoked Leeks on Toast with Whipped Feta and Black Sesame

I was inspired by the Trial Shift boys, when they took over Cook House for a pop up event a few months ago; I found them cooking their aubergines in the embers of my stove. Kicking myself that I hadn't thought of using the stove myself (why did I not?!), as soon as they handed the keys back I stuck some leeks into a roaring fire, totally incinerating the outside. When removed and left to cool I then carefully removed all the black outer edges and tore off ribbons of soft sweet smoked leek into a bowl and mixed with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

I served this on toast with feta cheese whipped up with some Greek yoghurt and extra virgin olive oil until it takes on the consistency of cream cheese. Spread onto toast, leeks piled gently on top and scattered with toasted black sesame seeds. The sweet smoky leeks with the salty cheese and toasted nutty sesame is delicious, this is probably my favourite invention so far.

Carrot and Lemon Pâté on Toast with Feta and Pea Shoots

I have been making a carrot, lemon and yoghurt pâté for a while now. I discovered it when I was putting together a vegetarian middle eastern style mezze supper last year. I made tons of different Lavosh crackers topped with different seeds and herbs and wanted lots of tasty colourful dips to go with them.

Chop 500g of carrots into large chunks and roast at 200˚C with about 6 cloves of garlic still in their skins and lots of olive oil until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes. Then pop the garlic out of their skins and blitz with 2 big spoons of yoghurt the zest and juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt. It's a lovely sweet dip with a rich hint of roast garlic and sharp lemon.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta or goats cheese, and top with a pile of dressed fresh pea shoots or rocket. The rich sweet pâté is delicious with the sharp salt cheese and fresh shoots.

Whipped Feta on Toast with Pear, Pea Shoots and Toasted Seeds

The whipped feta base mentioned previously is good with lots of toppings, as it's so salty and tart my favourite is something a little bit sweet. I've found a popular menu item to be fresh sliced pear, with pea shoots or rocket and toasted seeds, sometimes hazelnuts or a bit of chopped mint too.

I have tried it with pickled grapes and mint too, delicious; sharp, sweet and tasty. I also tried sliced blood oranges with toasted walnuts, normal oranges would work too, that was a pretty good brunch dish I think...

Or you could try fresh peppery radish with mint, black pepper and ricotta. Or ricotta, slow roast tomatoes and toasted cumin seeds... Or crushed peas and broad beans with lemon, mint and crumbled goats cheese... We're in a good season for lovely fresh toppings so I'll keep working on my repertoire...

Pear Frangipane at Rochelle Canteen

So I found myself in London a couple of months ago walking over the Thames to work. What began as a slightly farfetched idea for a spot of kitchen experience had become reality and here I was about to start a week’s work at Rochelle Canteen, a lovely little place just off Arnold Circus, E2. It’s a canteen, open for breakfast and lunch, based in the old bike shed of a former Victorian school, now home to Shoreditch creative types. They also cater for events large and small, with an often high end client list, and are owned and run by Margot Henderson, whose husband Fergus is responsible for St John group and her business partner Melanie Arnold. The pair have been part of the London culinary scene for 20 years and more, initially starting out above The French House in Soho, one of my favourite spots for a glass of wine...

I arrived to some confusion, but once everyone realised who everyone was, I was given uniform and set to work. Washing nettles being the first task, but a good one to begin with as I could settle down and survey my surroundings. A simple, open, bright white shed space that is half kitchen, half dining room, with a lean to open air kitchen prep area out the back. They have their own little garden of raised beds growing salad and herbs and with the sun shining, the breeze blowing through and plants growing around you it was a lovely place to work. I was pretty happy standing there washing the nettles and smiled to myself that I was actually doing this.

Standing in Rochelle Canteen kitchen surrounded by their team of chefs it was easy to feel that I knew very little at all. I was there to learn though, how they did everything, even simple tasks like making mayonnaise or dressings. Everyone has their own method and I wanted to see how other people work. How they organised themselves (very well), how long they kept things, when they ordered stuff, how they reused leftovers, recipes, ideas, presentation; I wanted to know everything. So I set to it... Cut, chop, prep, observe, clean, watch, learn...

Anna Tobias is the head chef at Rochelle Canteen, she runs a tight little ship there, confidently and efficiently sending out tasty, interesting dishes everyday as well as catering for events. While I was there, there was a day long feeding of some fashion folk - which had an afternoon tea, picnic feel, all prawn cocktail, quails eggs, sausage rolls, poached chicken and cucumber sandwiches - and an elegant birthday party for thirty.

My first day’s work over, we all sat down for staff lunch, which included leftover rabbit faggots, (so good) mash, salad, lemony roast chicken, followed by some leftover blood orange sorbet and golden syrup biscotti. Well you don’t get much better than that in my books. I was (nervously) having a wonderful time.

The following days brought scone making, mango chutney to go with ham or kedgeree, pickled prunes, a ham and parsley terrine, a delicious deep onion, thyme and Lancashire cheese quiche and sausage rolls. I learnt new things with all of my jobs; techniques, recipes and new ideas.

One day a delicious looking roast chicken with crème fraiche and tarragon stuffed under its skin, roast to golden wonderfulness, a rib of amazing pink beef with horseradish and beetroot salad the next. They have a friendly, interesting and enthusiastic team, who were always chatting away about how they did things, no steadfast rules and always keen to hear each other’s ideas. They had collectively worked in some pretty prestigious kitchens around London from The River Cafe to Quo Vadis and St John.

Each day I left and found an interesting spot to write about my day. My memory is definitely not the best so it was important to note it all down before it slipped away. We were usually done by about 4.30pm and it was lovely to sit in the sun with a glass of wine or a coffee. I frequented all the Shoreditch spots, Allpress Coffee one day, Albion Cafe another and the Ace Hotel the next. I was the only one without a macbook in the Ace Hotel, I wrote with a pen in a book and people looked at me; but on my way out of the super cool lobby looking over their shoulders I realised they were all just on Facebook anyway...

The kitchen turned out some delicious food over the week, a rich black cuttlefish stew, a lovely chicken salad with lovage, capers and soft leeks; witch sole with a tartar sauce that is better than any tartar sauce I’ve ever had... full of tarragon, capers, chopped eggs, rich homemade mayo; and this lovely pear frangipane tart which I’ve had a go at myself...

Make your own pastry to start, it is very simple and so much tastier... In a food processor blitz 175g of plain flour with 115g of cold butter cut into cubes until you get a fine breadcrumb, then add 50g of icing sugar, 2 egg yolks and a pinch of salt and blend until it comes together in a ball, it’ll only be a few seconds, be careful not to overwork it. Then form it into a ball, wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest. This might be more pastry than you need for one tart, but it will keep for a week in the fridge and also freezes well.

Peel two pears, something firm like a conference pear, and add them to a pan with 100g of caster sugar and 750ml water and simmer for about 20 minutes until soft. Leave them to cool in the syrup. Keep this and use it in cocktails! Delicious...

For the tart itself heat your oven to 220°C. Roll out your pastry, and gently line your tart tin, pressing the pastry into the edges. Leave it to rest in the fridge for half an hour, then line with baking paper and blind bake for 20 minutes, remove the beans (I use dried chickpeas) and leave to cool.

Using a food processor cream 250g of softened butter with 250g of caster sugar until light and fluffy, then add 250g of ground almonds, I like to grind these myself so you can keep some a bit chunkier, keep a handful back if you’re doing this to add texture. Then add 5 eggs one at a time, incorporating each one before you add the next so you don’t curdle, then add 50g of plain flour and mix thoroughly, adding in the courser almonds at the end. Fill the pastry case with the frangipane mixture. Then core the pears and cut into quarters, arranging them evenly over the mixture, so every slice gets a bit... Bake for 40 minutes at 180°C until golden and firm to touch.

I have tried a few different versions of this, some are very cake like and light, others use more of a dense almond paste, this recipe was the most consistent for me, but I’m still experimenting. It is delicious and almondy with sweet pears and buttery pastry, serve with crème fraiche...

Honey and Pear Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It's busy busy busy at the moment. We revisited the Lake District very briefly last week for one cold night in the rain, it was beautiful even through the rain. There were so many deer roaming through the valley, hardly bothered by us strolling in the rain at all. It was very very cold, sleeping in jumpers, socks and scarves cold... but the poor little house hasn’t had the fire on since October so it may take some time to warm through.

So there was that little trip, another mini trip to London this week, organising my exciting and tasty Spring Graze market and it all adds up to a busy busy me right now... But everyone took a little pause on Sunday to celebrate a very important marker in time... A very important birthday, I will spare his blushes and not reveal figures, but Mr. Hedworth deserved a special cake and a tea party...

This cake comes with a warning, it's very sweet, the frosting in particular, so go easy and only proceed if you think you can take it. I'm still not ready for any form of sugar days later, saying that, it is delicious, it just packs a fair bit of sugar... I think it is a Hummingbird Bakery recipe originally, I have made a few adjustments... and made my own crystallised fruit to decorate it, surprisingly simple and totally beautiful. Simply paint berries of your choice with a lightly beaten egg white, roll in caster sugar and leave to dry on greaseproof paper over night. I even added a few mint leaves for extra foliage...

Start the caramelised pears by melting 20g of unsalted butter, 60g of honey and 40g of caster sugar together in a pan. Peel 3 pears, core and slice each into 12 pieces and add to the melted honey mix. Simmer the pears gently for about 15 minutes, until the pears start to turn golden.

In a large bowl beat 4 large eggs and add 120g of caster sugar and 40g of soft brown sugar. Then in a jug stir together 120ml of live yoghurt, 120g of honey, 120ml of vegetable oil and the grated zest of a lemon. Beat this all together until it is a creamy emulsion and add it slowly to the egg and sugar mix. Then sift in 280g of plain flour, 1½ teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of salt, mix everything together to form a creamy cake batter.

The cake is meant to be divided between four cake tins, but this would result in 3 layers of inside cake icing, which I think would have been a step too far towards full on sugar overload. I divided the mix between 2 tins, thankfully... Add half of the cooked pears to the top of each cake mix, in an even circle so each slice will come across some honey soaked pear, then bake both at 150°C for about 25 minutes, until golden and springy.

Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack while making the cream cheese frosting. It is best done in a food processor, I tried by hand at first and ended up with lumpy butter bits that I had to scrape through a sieve, save yourself the trouble and wizz up 100g of unsalted butter with 350g of icing sugar, the recipe said 500g, which is just far too sweet for me, so adjust to suit your taste... Wizz it up until it is a fine crumb, then add 200g of cream cheese and a few teaspoons of the honey, buttery pear juice left over from cooking the pears, again to suit your taste.

Frost the top of the first cake layer, top with the second cake layer and then frost the whole cake, sprinkling the top with a pile of sugary berries and leaves. The sponge is so light and delicious, full of sweet soft pears and covered in creamy sweet cheese frosting. A cake fit for a birthday king...